NEWS
Taylor Swift is encouraging rising artists to stay away from reading social media comments too closely.
During a conversation with The New York Times about songwriting, the “Shake It Off” singer explained that although criticism can sometimes become a “creative writing prompt,” constantly checking comments online can leave artists overwhelmed by negativity.
“My favourite thing when I sit down with new artists or songwriters, I'm like, ‘Why are you reading your comments?’ Like, that's too much of it,” she said. “You're inundating yourself with too much criticism that doesn't really have a focus. But a little bit of it, you've got to just be like, this is part of (the job). Like, don't make this make you stop writing or make you edit yourself or whatever.”
Swift, 36, also shared that she often tells other musicians to channel criticism into music instead of firing back at people online or posting long responses in the Notes app.
“If it's an interesting point to you to kind of respond to, then that's a gift for you to be able to write something. Maybe you wouldn't have written something that day,” she continued. “But don't go to the Notes app and post it, like write (a song) about it. Make art about this. Don't respond to trolls in your comments. That's not what we want from you. We want your art.”
The global superstar went on to say that criticism has inspired some of the biggest songs throughout her career. She pointed to her 2014 hit “Blank Space,” saying it likely would not have happened without people constantly focusing on her dating life and creating “slideshow” style narratives about her relationships.
Speaking about her 2022 track “Anti-Hero,” Swift added, “That song doesn't exist if I don't get criticised for every aspect of my personality that people have a problem with or whatever.”
Suki Waterhouse has spoken candidly about how she found herself crying constantly after the birth of her daughter.
The singer and actress reflected on her experience as a mother more than two years after she and her partner, actor Robert Pattinson, welcomed their baby girl in March 2024.
During an interview with The Standard published on Thursday, Suki explained that motherhood has completely shifted her outlook on life.
"I think it's made me marvel at our humanness. It's so funny, even just your kid getting a fever, watching a little body recover from that, it's brought me down to what it is to be alive and I really love that," she said. "It feels very survivalist and medieval in a way, especially birth, birth is medieval."
The Daisy Jones & The Six actress, 34, shared that she was caught off guard by just how exposed and emotional she felt after giving birth to her daughter.
"I'm almost two and a half years in now, but when she was first born, I remember thinking that I can't believe everybody does this and I can't believe how vulnerable I feel," she told the publication. "I was crying all the time."
Suki continued, "It makes me cry now thinking about it. It was just... shocking."
The Notting Hill singer also admitted that she has never considered herself someone who cries easily, making those emotions all the more surprising.
"It's so f**king weird! I'm not a cryer! I'm so not an emotional person, I'm such a Capricorn. But being a mum just fed me up in such a sweet way," she stated. "It just absolutely broke open my heart, and I'm just madly in love and, despite my crying right now, I enjoy it so much and I'm so taken by my daughter and so in love with doing it with my partner and I just feel the preciousness of it very much."
Suki and Twilight actor Robert, 40, have been in a relationship since 2018 and announced they were expecting their first child together toward the end of 2023.
The pair have largely kept their romance away from the spotlight and have yet to publicly share the name of their daughter.
